EE to improve 2G and 3G infrastructure

So, you’ve heard about EE and their 4G network. You can get double-speed 4G in Birmingham and some of my lovely scenic local towns – Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

That’s all very clever, but whenever we run a story about the speedy 4G network there’s always comments from people who’ve not even got a decent 3G connection or struggle to make a call at all.

EE have heard you it seems, and they’re investing £275 million to improve call quality and beat international benchmarks.

They’re upgrading 11,000 old 2G masts and are about to double the capacity of 7,000 3G sites. The network is to invest £1.5 billion into their network, so over a third of that will be to improve the reliability and quality of phone calls.

The network has now achieved the highest ever call success rate, with 99.2% of calls getting connected first time, and they’ve already upgraded 6000 sites which were running 20-year-old 2G equipment. They’ve also installed a new HLR (Home Location Register) and added more capacity to 1600 3G sites.

· EE call volumes up 25% since the beginning of 2012, showing more reliance on the mobile and call success rates at all-time high

December 13, 2013 – EE today confirmed that during 2014 it will invest £275 million in the most traditional part of its business – the phone call.

The company – best known for its pioneering 4G service that enables customers to access high-speed internet on the move – plans to set a new benchmark for voice call quality and reliability.

EE confirmed that, of its total £1.5 billion network investment, over one third will support the company’s ambition to reach new standards in phone call quality and reliability.

Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, said: “While we consistently outperform on the standard UK benchmark for voice call quality and reliability, I don’t believe the benchmark is right. I think the UK mobile industry can do better, and we intend to improve the experience for our customers, taking our quality and reliability to levels to those achieved by other operators across Europe.

“This year, we have been focusing a large amount of our activity and investment on offering consumers the most reliable, highest quality phone call experience. I’m proud to say that we have reached our highest ever call success rate – 99.2% – while carrying over one billion calls every week. But we can go even further.

“For the majority of our customers, being able to make a phone call when they need to is still the vital aspect of the mobile experience. Innovative, high-speed data services receive most of the attention in the mobile industry as they are changing the way people communicate, connect, trade and interact. However, we carried more voice calls on our network than ever before this year, and we know that call reliability is essential for our customers. That’s why we plan to invest £275m in our voice call service in 2014 as we strive to set new standards in call quality and reliability.”

The investment commitment builds on EE’s 2013 voice service enhancement, which resulted in the mobile operator’s highest ever call success rate, despite the number of calls on the network increasing.

To reach the company’s highest ever call success rate, EE has undertaken the following activity:

· Upgraded 20 year old 2G equipment on over 6,000 sites with the latest technology to reduce dropped calls by 50%

· Increased the capacity on 1,600 3G sites to support 50% more calls

· Installed a new HLR (Home Location Register) database to increase call set up success

Ongoing investment in 2014 will see:

· Over 5,000 more old 2G sites upgraded

· Capacity increased on 5,500 more sites on the 3G network, which now carries over two thirds of all EE calls